


Memories

by Mai_Blade



Series: Mavis Pines [2]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Animal Death, Blood and Gore, F/M, Family Fluff, Gen, Gideon may show up, Harm to Animals, Mild Gore, because Mavis is kind of off her rocker
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-19
Updated: 2018-10-19
Packaged: 2019-08-04 12:49:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16347050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mai_Blade/pseuds/Mai_Blade
Summary: Some things you remember, some things you forget.This is a collection of both.





	1. Summer Heat

Summer in Piedmont has nearly reached a record high, and your house is without an air conditioner. The pavement outside was nearly steaming, and the shade wasn’t much cooler, or so Mabel and Dipper told you when they gave up and came back inside. Mom, Mabel and Dipper are miserable and sweating in separate parts of the house. Mom was hogging the television in her shorts and tank top while your sibling sweat in your shared bedroom.

The fact that you look perfectly comfortable in the same room would irritate them, or at least it would if they had the energy.

“Mavis,” your elder sister moaned from her top bunk, her arm dangling over the edge. “ _How_ are you not feeling this _heat?_ ”

“The weather does not affect me the same way it affects you, sister.” You calmly turned the page of your book while Mabel let out another groan.

“You’re an anomaly,” Dipper muttered from his bed across the room. He blinked blearily at you, for once not wearing his usual star-cap. “You’re never too cold or too hot. Well, I mean, I know you can get frost-bitten or suddenly collapse from overheating, but why don’t you exhibit the same signs of discomfort as the rest of us?”

You deadpan, “I am just strange that way.” You glanced over at him to smirk briefly. “Honestly, though, I would rather forgo any warning signs if it means that I can continue to avoid the discomfort you make so widely known.”

He half-heartedly defended himself. “It’s _hot!_ ”

“I wish mom would take us to the pool,” Mabel sighed.

You grimaced. “Mabel, pools are _disgusting_.”

Mabel giggled. “That’s what you get for reading so much.”

Dipper chuckled from his bed, also remembering the day you read an article on the germs that exist in public pools. You had ranted and raved, swearing to never set another foot into a public pool ever again. Yeah, he didn’t like thinking about all those germs either, so he didn’t, but you on the hand were rarely able to disregard information like that and such information tended to replay in your mind like a record stuck on repeat. The first time mom and dad took you all to the pool after you read that article was the day they all learned your feelings on public pools. It was The Pool Rant, Take Two, and that time dad got to witness his youngest daughter stalking up and down the deck waving her hands and giving way too much information to anyone even half-listening.

You actually made one boy run away and a teenage girl start crying.

You were also banned from the nearest public pool in Piedmont, but it was no great loss to you.

Mabel wailed. “It’s TOO HOT!!”

You snorted. “If it really is so hot, I have no idea how you have the energy to yell so much.”

Mabel blew a raspberry.

Mom’s voice called from somewhere in the house. “Kids! I’m losing my mind! Mavis, honey, sweetie, darling, I’m sorry!”

As she called you sweet nothings your head slowly turned to stare suspiciously at the doorway. This… could not be good.

“We’re going to the pool!”

You scrunched your nose as your elder siblings cheered, their heat-induced lethargy disappearing at the mention of the pool.

Mabel jumped down from her bunk and spun to face you. “Come on, Mavis! We’re going to the pool!”

Dipper repeated, digging around for his swim trunks, “The pool!”

Sighing in defeat, you also got up to fetch your bathing suit and swim bag. “I go only under protest.”

Dipper grinned at you. “Do you go any other way?”

You stuck your tongue out at him.

* * *

**Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it.**

**~Russell Bakercenter**


	2. The Cat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Cat/animal death in this chapter. Mentions of other cat/kitten deaths.

The bright blue sky of the autumn afternoon was aesthetically pleasing. There were no clouds to mar the deep blue, and no excessive heat trying to touch you through your strange inability to properly process hot and cold weather. The slight chill of the season had slightly more success in affecting you in that the air you breathed was noticeably cooler than usual. The few trees dotting the yards of the neighborhood were turning color and starting to lose leaves.

Sadly, no leaves crunched underfoot, no matter how many you stepped on.

Breathing deeply, you felt serene walking alone instead of being forced to watch the backs of your elder siblings as they talked and laughed ( _lonely_ ).

Glancing into an alleyway between the houses on the block, you spotted a cat and came to a stop. The cat in question appeared to be full grown ( _not a kitten like the last two_ ) and lacked a collar. A stray cat, relaxing on a depressed cardboard box and looking for all the world as though nothing else mattered to it in that moment than just being where it was.

It did not dash off as you approached, and indeed only opened lazy eyes to gaze at you when your feet stepped off the sidewalk into the alleyway. It was not a fat cat, but at just a content stray. Perhaps it was recently a pet? It purred as you reached out to touch its furry side.

( _the kittens purred too_ )

After a moment of awkward petting as you sat on your haunches with your back to the sidewalk, you reached over and picked it up. It went into your arms without protest and continued purring, completely certain that the small human you were was no threat to it. After all, it had claws, speed and flexibility. One stroke in the wrong direction and it would be gone.

You felt its sinewy power beneath its fur and distantly marveled that creatures like cats and dogs existed; pets, though they could be more and once were more than domesticated creatures. Idly, your hands wandered up to its neck and gently encircled it. The cat gave its first indication of annoyance and flicked its tail.

In a quick instant, your grip tightened and your arms **twisted**.

The loud, single crack of its neck breaking startled you, and you cast a wild glance over your shoulder at the sidewalk. You spent several moments silently and frantically berating yourself for your actions, though not because you regretted it, but for just giving into a sudden urge without checking if the cost was clear.

( _you didn’t the previous two times and it’s a miracle no one caught you_ )

Finally, convinced that you’re in the clear, you turn your eyes back to the dead cat in your arms. You could understand the kittens not knowing any better, because why would the young know how to identify predators that lack claws, grace and power, but a full-grown cat? Surely a full-grown cat should have been able to tell you meant it no good.

( _did you really mean it the moment you saw it, or was it just an impulse once you had something small and alive in your hands?_ )

The body of the cat is still warm, but it feels wrong now that it is dead. You know it will begin to decompose soon, and touching a decomposing thing with your bare hands is a no-no according to science class, health lessons and mom. Shifting your grip, you—

“Mavis! There you are!”

“Whatcha doing in an alleyway, sis?”

The voices of your brother and sister badly startle you, making you violently flinch as you look at them over your shoulder.

Damn.

Damn!

How were you ever going to explain this to them? There’s no excuse or reason you can give! You’re capital-B Busted!

“I… I...”

The amusement on their faces morphs to concern. They’ve rarely known you to be anything but eloquent and seeing you at a loss for words is always a red flag. When you twitch as they approach, their concern deepens.

“Are you okay?”

“What are you hiding?”

Dipper’s first question is nearly always about your well-being. Mabel’s first questions are fifty-fifty in that department, and today she’s in the other half of the percentage. Nonetheless, she sounds as equally concerned as Dipper does, but she gasps when she finally sees what you’re holding. Dipper spots it a half-second after she does and his reaction is the same.

You cringe your eyes shut, waiting for the damning ( _true_ ) accusations to start flying, but they never come.

“You shouldn’t handle dead animals with your bare hands.” Disgust tinges his voice, but not towards you yourself. Concern is there as well, and you know he’s going to make you wash your hands as soon as possible.

“Poor kitty! Poor Mavis!” Her voice wavers in pity and sympathy. A soft hand pets your hair.

( _not once, not for a single second does it ever cross their minds that you are its murderer_

_you are their little sister and you are_ innocent _of such evil, as surely as you are all triplets_ )

Before you know it, a grave has been dug near a tree in a park away from the playground, in a space hidden from sight. Dipper and Mabel are covered in dirt, having dug the grave with a plastic shovel and their bare hands. At Mabel’s direction, you lay the cat into the grave.

Mabel speaks. “We gather here today to honor this poor cat we never knew. May you chase mice in mouse hell and live happily in cat heaven. If, you know, those things exist.”

Ah yes, mom and dad don’t believe in religion and have passed that on to you three.

Dipper caught Mabel staring at him and he cleared his throat. “Uh, goodbye stray cat. May you… rest well.”

You refrained from rubbing your nose or touching your face with your contaminated hands. “Farewell, cat. Should reincarnation exist in place of heaven, hell or purgatory, may your next lives be kinder to you.”

Mabel tossed in a handful of dirt, as did Dipper, and you mimicked them. Then the three of you properly filled in the grave. Mabel picked a flower ( _a waste_ ) and placed it upon the small grave.

After a moment of silence, the three of you left, but only Mabel glanced back.

As you walked home, bearing their sympathy in silence, you had no words for how absolutely grateful you were that they never asked if you killed the stupid thing.

* * *

**Death is when the monsters get you.**

**~Stephen King, _Salem's Lot_**


End file.
